I love this family so much! I started off reading the 2nd book (woops!), but am so happy to now have read the first book in the series. A perfect book to read on a beach vacation! ( )

This remarkable book chronicles the tales of Ansley and her three daughters. The story begins as Ansley is contacted by her daughters, all needing her right now. Oldest daughter Caroline is in a bad way. For starters, going back to Peachtree Bluff is something Caroline said swore she’d never do. However, she is in desperate need. A very pregnant Caroline and her nine-year old daughter arrive at her mother’s house as her husband has been had been discovered having an affair with a supermodel. That fact, and also because her husband James comes from New York money, the gossip is unrelenting.

Then Ansley’s daughter Sloane is having a bit of a hard time with her two young sons as her husband is currently deployed overseas. Then there is Emerson, a successful actress who, too, needs to be with her mother. It might be just for the summer, but, can the three sisters get along as adults, and will all of their lives be made for the better now?

Ansley certainly has her own woes. As a widow for sixteen years she has gotten along pretty well. For starters, she has grown a very successful design business, especially after discovering that her husband left her with little bit of nothing. Despite her success, her life is beginning to feel a bit unsettled. Then, a someone from her past, Jack, reenters her life. Ansley has no choice but to closely examine her past and the difficult decisions she made over the years. Now Ansley has her future to face. Will she choose her own happiness over her daughters’ needs?

Simply South of Simple is a very warm and affecting story. I was enthralled with all of the drama and the pages couldn’t turn fast enough. I both laughed and cried while reading this book. I shared the sadness as well as the joy each woman experienced and read this book in just one sitting. I have already devoured the second book in the series as well, The Secret to Southern Charm, which was just as good. The Southern Side of Paradise follows in May, but as I already have it, I will be reading it soon.

Please see all of my reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.com. ( )

My favorite time of year: summer reading. Bring on the beachy books!!! My first beach read of the summer was Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey. It is the first book in the Peachtree Bluff Series. Book three was just released.
Three sisters find themselves back on Peachtree Bluff staying with their mother at the seaside home in Georgia that she inherited from her grandmother. “When you were in Peachtree, it simply felt like everything would be all right.” “There are some things in life that only a sister can understand.”
Ansley is the mother. She has a successful career as an interior designer. Her life is interrupted when her three children and her grandchildren all come to stay with her for a few months. Her daughters have always been her life. “When I was too scared to go on, I carried on for the three best parts of me, for the girls who almost ruined my life, yet ended up saving it.” “Sometimes you don’t know how empty your heart can be. You don’t realize it, that is, until at long last, you find if full again.” As if dealing with the drama from her daughter’s lives isn’t enough, Ansley’s old flame returns to Peachtree and she must face some things from her past. “Opening your heart after it’s been closed for so many years is hard.”
Caroline is the main reason everyone has come to stay at Peachtree. Her husband just left her, after 13 years of marriage, for a twenty year old supermodel. Caroline is six months pregnant and already has an eleven year old daughter named Vivi. Caroline is a NY socialite who snagged one of the most eligible bachelors in town and she always dreamed of being a mother. Caroline probably likes Peachtree the least of everyone, but after she has been away from NY a while, she begins to realize how ridiculous her life in NY had become. “There are no people in the world to make you realize what a spoiled, selfish bitch you’ve become and put you right back in place quite like your sisters.”
Emerson is an actress and her most recent role brings her back to Georgia where the made for T.V. movie is being filmed. The whole family worries about how skinny she has become. They also worry about the fact that she never has found love due to her career, but is she sneaking around with a man on the island?
Sloane is the third sister. Her husband, Adam is deployed in Iraq and she is left to mother their two sons alone. She is the only sibling who ended up living in Georgia. Toward the end of the book, she has a tragedy of her own.
The book ends with a lot of unresolved issues and unknowns. I immediately picked up book two in the series. I must know what happens to these lovely ladies and I look forward to spending more time with them.
“Walking down the street with my two sisters, I felt like life was going to go on-yet again. It might have been slightly south of simple. But like we always did, we’d figure it out together.” ( )

Ansley never would have pictured her adult daughters moving back in with them. But she welcomes them all with open arms.

Her oldest daughter, Caroline, is running from her husband who has very brazenly left her for another woman.
Caroline is pregnant with a second child. Her and her daughter decide to stay with Ansley and Caroline convinced her sisters to come too.

Emerson is an actress who was just gotten a part that is filling near her mom’s house.

Sloan’s husband is away with the military. And she’s alone with her kids.

They all show up together to stay with Ansley.

The story alternates between Ansley and Caroline as narrators.

I made the mistake of not confirming the actual last page of the book before starting. I never do that but this time I didn’t check and the ending felt incredibly sudden.

I have book two from NetGalley. I’m glad I have both because I would have had a hard time with such an ending, where practically none of the storylines were wrapped up.
You basically get to the end of this a realize you won’t get answers till book two.
And poor Emerson barely got a storyline.

I’m hoping book two will include much more time to telling Emerson’s story as well as Sloane’s.

This was an enjoyable book with mostly likable characters. Caroline can be difficult but Ansley makes up for it.
I’d just suggest, in my personal opinion, that you buy both books together. I’ll probably have a stronger opinion on the series after reading book two because right now I’m basing this review on a pretty open ended story. ( )

Slightly South of Simple
(Peachtree Bluff #1)
Kristy Woodson Harvey

MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️
PUBLISHER Gallery Books
PUBLISHED April 25, 2017

A fun and entertaining book that introduces you to a whole new set of friends and a town that you will definitely want to visit.

SUMMARY
Caroline Murphy is married to a New York Manhattanite and living the high life in the greatest city in the world. The problem is her thirteen year marriage has just fallen apart in a very public and embarrassing way. All her friends knew even before she did. Her husband is leaving her for a supermodel. Caroline is six months pregnant, and needs to escape the gossip. She and her nine-year-old daughter, Vivi, head down south to her mother’s house in Peachtree Bluff, Georgia, a place she detests, but it’s just until she can figure out what to do about the implosion of her marriage. Isn’t it?

Ansley has always put her three daughters first, but now she has started her own business as a interior designer and she is very successful at it. She welcomes Caroline and Vivi back to Peachtree Bluff with open arms. But soon her second daughter Sloane, whose husband is serving in the military overseas, and her youngest daughter, Emerson, a successful actress also want to come home again. Ansley’s life is soon overwhelmed with the needs and demands of her three daughters, her three and soon to be four grandkids, a grumpy neighbor, and her eighty-three year old mother who has broken her foot. Ansley has no time for herself and has just been asked to take to take on new design project for boat in need of restoration. She is completely gobsmacked when she discovers the boat is owned by Jack, her first love when she was sixteen years old. Jack knows all of Ansley’s family secrets, secrets which Ansley would just as well keep secret.

“But this was the thing about sisters. No matter how much you laughed, no matter how many hours you talked, no matter how much time you got to spend together, it never seem like quite enough.”

REVIEW
Slightly South of Simple explores the unique bonds between sisters, and between mothers and their daughters. It’s about the people that are there for you when times get tough, and the sacrifices we make for family. The setting in Peachtree Bluff is enchanting and delightful. It’s a small harbor town, complete with a boardwalk, marina, and a island mecca perfect for parties. It’s a place where you know everyone, and your specially made coffee concoction is hand delivered to you every morning. Who wouldn’t want that! Kristy Harvey is a great storyteller. Her writing is smooth and easy and the characters soon become your friends. If you are looking for a great beach read, or a fun book by the fire the first two books in the Peachtree Bluff series are it: Slightly South of Simple and The Secret of Southern Charm. ( )